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Making an Ass out of You and Umption

If you will steady yourself and seek My face, says the Lord, I will reveal to you things that have been difficult to grasp. Bring your inquiry before Me, and be assured that if you ask, I will answer. But, you must lay aside your own speculations and assumptions and come with a heart wide open and ready to receive. Do not be afraid.

“So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you,” (Luke 11:9)

I subscribe to a prophecy newsletter, and yesterday I got this prophecy in my inbox. Now my problem is not so much that I don’t ask God the questions. Rather, I ask, believing that God will reveal things to me. But sometimes I will believe that I’ve figured out the truth, and then go off on my own assumptions.

God has given me a gift for researching, digging out truths, and understanding some of the more difficult concepts. The internet has made research much faster and easier than in the past, when I used to spend hours in the library, pouring over books. However, in addition to good, sound information, the internet is also filled with many assumptions, many half-truths, and many, many lies. So while it is faster and easier to do research, it is at the same time more difficult because of the vast amount of information that must be sifted through and discarded. And sometimes my human mind will grasp a concept that appears to be right.

This is where the danger lies: it looks so plausible that it must be right. So I run with that, when I ought to take it to God first. This is the intellectual equivalent to the very same thing problem that launched me on the Faith Trip (recounted in my first book, Look, Listen, Love): a failure to wait upon the Lord and seek Him for the answer. Perhaps this is my opportunity to grow past this unfortunate tendency.

So this morning during my prayer time I prayed:

Lord, please help me to lay aside my own assumptions and speculations! You have given me a gift for understanding and figuring out certain mysterious things, so this is really hard for me. But I do now deliberately lay those things aside, including that gift. I surrender all of it to You. I want to know the Truth more than I desire to be proven right.

So then I asked:

Q: Why do we still suffer attacks on our health, our finances, our relationships, etc., when we are fully committed and surrendered and living for You and Your Kingdom?

And He immediately responded both verbally and with a vision. I saw Nehemiah and his crew rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other. He said:

A: You are committed and surrendered, but your walls still have weak spots and breaches in them. Surrender is only the first step, but the enemy is circling about, trying to take any weak spot, even the tiniest crack, any foothold that he can gain. So while you’re busy building your walls by spending time in My Word, the enemy’s hordes are watching and howling at you, trying to distract you. Like Nehemiah, you must rebuild with the trowel in one hand and the sword in the other.

Q: That’s great! But what does that look like, exactly?

A: The trowel is My Word applied to your life as you obey it. As you yield to the Truth of My Word, your wall is built and strengthened.

The sword is also My Word that you are to use as Jesus did, responding to each temptation with the Word. This Sword is mighty to drive back the enemy, while allowing you to build brick by brick.

The key is not to allow yourself to be discouraged by the size of the task (this is also a temptation of the enemy). Rather, focus on the brick in your hand. In other words, stay in the moment.

I don’t know about you, but I found this very helpful. I’m not finished asking questions, but I want to take some time now to really digest this before asking any more. The great thing is that I know He’s always ready to respond whenever I have a question. God is good!